THE MEMOIRISTS COLLECTIVE is a group of four established, recently published memoirists who met online through MySpace.com (www.myspace.com/thememoiristscollective), and have banded together to start a revolution in the world of book promotion, through collaboration instead of competition. Not only is The Memoirist's Collective on a mission to help themselves, they're also on a mission to help other writers find success, readers, and publishers, and sponsor contests to do so.

The Collective consists of Josh Kilmer-Purcell, author of I AM NOT MYSELF THESE DAYS; Hillary Carlip, author of QUEEN OF THE ODDBALLS: And Other True Stories from a Life Unaccording to Plan; Maria Dahvana Headley, author of THE YEAR OF YES; and Danielle Trussoni, author of FALLING THROUGH THE EARTH.


DO GO CHECK OUT THEIR BOOKS!

Collectively, the Memoirists Collective members have been:
- On the cover of the New York Times Book Review (with a rave inside)
- Preached against in the Bible Belt
- Kissed on the lips by professed CIA assassin and Gong Show host, Chuck Barris
- Blurbed by James Frey
- Featured on Oprah, who was a bit nicer to them than she was to James Frey
- On the New York Times Bestseller list
- Boycotted by PETA
- On the couch of the Today Show causing Matt Lauer to say something about "beating around the bush," but we're sure he didn't mean it that way

CONTESTS

Since banding together in April 2006, the Collective has already sponsored three contests on MySpace. In the first, the winner got their manuscript read by a literary agent at William Morris Agency for possible representation. Hundreds of aspiring authors entered, and all entries were posted online for a special "Readers' Choice Award," voted on by the Collective's followers. In their second contest, "Win a Date with the Memoirists Collective," the winner got to hang out with all four authors when they gathered together, for the first time, in New York City.

The Memoirists Collective's latest contest, "WIN A SHOT AT GETTING YOUR MEMOIR PUBLISHED!" was sponsored by Joseph-Beth Booksellers, and drew a lot of attention.

From June 12th through July 19th, the Collective accepted submissions of 800 words excerpted from a memoir in progress, along with a one paragraph synopsis. The Collective chose six finalists out of hundreds of entries. A "Readers' Choice," voted on by the Collective's followers, was also named. Finalists submitted an additional 2,000 words, and the grand prize winner was selected from those submissions.

In their first joint reading extravaganza, at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cleveland, OH, on August 7th, Josh, Maria, Danielle and Hillary announced the winner via a live webcast

The grand prize winner, LUKE SON, is getting his proposal read by not one, not two, but THREE editors at prominent publishing houses - HarperCollins, Hyperion and Holt!


Check out a video tribute to all the incredible "Win A Shot at Getting Your Memoir Published" contest entrants, featuring the Collective on the road

And also check out an audio clip of the entire reading and contest winner announcement event....including all four of the Collective Member's readings, a quickie audience memoir contest, Q&A, etc.
 (Please excuse some of the skipping during the first few introductory minutes. It goes away AND the audio gets louder. Promise.)

For more info, go to www.myspace.com/thememoiristscollective